About Kathleen
Kathleen Kaufman is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Illinois with 24 years of experience supporting people through a wide range of concerns, including stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, relationship and intimacy-related challenges, parenting and family issues, grief, anger, self-esteem struggles, career transitions, bipolar disorder, and ADHD.
Background and approach
She also addresses more specific areas such as attachment and abandonment wounds, codependency, caregiver stress, communication problems, impulsivity, and feelings of isolation and emptiness. Her approach centers on respect, sensitivity, and compassion while tailoring conversation and treatment plans to each person’s distinct needs.
Kathleen uses evidence-informed methods that emphasize practical problem-solving and goal-directed support, helping clients translate insight into action. She works with both women and men and welcomes the courage it takes to begin therapy, offering steady guidance as clients navigate change and growth.
As an Illinois-licensed clinician (IL LCSW 149009240), Kathleen blends client-centered principles with attachment-focused work and skills-based strategies to help clients build more resilient ways of coping and relating. She frames therapy as a collaborative process and aims to support clients in meeting concrete goals while honoring their lived experience.
Therapeutic Approaches and Online Access
Kathleen draws from attachment-based and client-centered frameworks as well as dialectical behavior therapy skills to support people working through relationship wounds, emotional dysregulation, trauma, and stress. Attachment-based work explores how early relational patterns influence current connections and helps clients build more supported ways of relating. Client-centered therapy prioritizes the person’s perspective, offering empathic listening and collaboration to shape goals and treatment at the client’s pace. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) contributes practical skills for managing intense emotions, improving interpersonal effectiveness, and coping with impulsivity.Finding the right combination of approaches is part of the therapeutic process, and Kathleen works collaboratively with each client to identify what methods fit best given their needs, goals, and preferences. She tailors interventions over time so the treatment plan remains aligned with progress and changing priorities.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, providing flexibility for scheduling and communication style. These formats can make it easier to attend regular sessions, practice skills between meetings, and maintain continuity of care when life circumstances change, while allowing licensed professionals to offer consistent therapeutic support across distances.
Frequently asked questions
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Does she provide therapy in multiple languages or accept international clients?
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Mood disorders
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 24 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English